backupdataiosiphonerestore
I am trying to clear the 3+ GB of space occupied by other and documents and data on my iPhone 5S, running the new iOS 9.1 (13B5110e)
Usually I would do this by restoring the phone through iTunes and then restoring from a backup…but when I try that I get this message:
"Problem downloading software. Requested source was not found."
How can I clear these out in the version of iOS?
A forum post on Apple Support Communities points out that on iOS 10 it is possible to reduce the Podcasts app’s “Documents & Data” by temporarily removing the app:
Good news for everyone that has been dealing with this issue - iOS 10 has a new feature that help resolve the Podcasts storage problem.
One thing you can now do in iOS 10 is 'delete' stock apps from your device. It doesn't really delete the app, but it deletes the icon link from the apps and it also removes associated data and configuration files! This means that deleting the Podcasts app will also delete the huge data file.
Once removed, the Podcasts app can just be readded from the App Store, and the settings are instantly restored from your iCloud account.
( I realize this is an old question, but I stumbled upon it while trying to find out why the Podcasts app is using a few hundred megabytes worth of “Documents & Data” on my iPhone in addition to the storage it uses for downloaded podcast episodes, and I thought it was still worth providing an updated answer pointing out that on iOS 10 this can be more easily fixed. I haven’t been able to try this myself yet, as I am still on iOS 9. )
ONE THING TO NOTE: Any podcasts you have downloaded, but are not subscribed to will be lost.
You can actually use your whole iOS 9.1 beta backup onto the iOS 9.0 stable release (installing backup made in newer firmware onto older firmware). I'm glad I managed it and I want to share the method.
First you have to backup in iTunes (while still in iOS 9.1 beta). Then, you have to find the directory where your backup is.
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\WindowsFind the latest folder (with lots of weird numbers and alphabets). You can sort by date to do this. Open the folder, and you'll get LOTS of text files. Search for info.plist and open it using a text editor or Xcode. Under "software version", it says 9.1. Change it to 9.0 and close the file.
You restore your device to iOS 9.0 in iTunes (since 9.0 is released it will restore it to 9.0 by default, not 8.4.1 anymore), and then after it's done you can restore from the backup you just made. It was made in iOS 9.1 but the computer thinks it's 9.0.
Best Answer
You should be able to "erase all content and settings" by using the settings app on the iPhone and then re-choose from the choices:
The error message you mentioned is typically a result of not actually running iOS 9.1 on the device (or whatever build you were in the process of installing. You can verify the exact build of iOS on the phone from the settings app > general > about
It also could be that iTunes wants to see if it can get a newer OS than what it detects on the device. In that case, just put the device into recovery mode.